SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – UC Santa Barbara Athletics has named Vijay Saxena as the new Head Coach of Men's and Women's Cross Country/Track and Field, Director of Athletics Kelly Barsky announced today.
"It's an exciting day and I'm thrilled to welcome Vijay and his family to UC Santa Barbara," Barsky said. "He has a student-centered approach, demonstrated success at all levels, and west coast ties. He will be a phenomenal leader for this program and connect our rich history with our current and future upward trajectory."
Saxena comes to Santa Barbara from Army West Point, where he served as an assistant with the track and field programs, working primarily as the jumps, sprints and hurdles coach. During his two seasons with the program, his teams broke the school record in the indoor and outdoor women's 4x400m relay, the women's 60m hurdles and the women's 100m hurdles. Saxena was also a huge part of all aspects of the team's recruiting efforts.
Prior to his time at West Point, Saxena was the assistant track and field coach at McNeese State University. Over his seven seasons with the program, he helped the women's team to their first-ever Southland Indoor and Outdoor Conference Championships. In that same year, he was named as the USTFCCCA South Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year. Saxena's athletes broke multiple school records including the indoor women's 60m, men's and women's 200m, men's 400m, men's 60m hurdles, men's distance medley relay, men's and women's 4x400m relay, women's triple jump, women's high jump, and men's and women's outdoor triple jump. He also helped his teams break the school record for the most points scored in a meet. To top it all off, Saxena coached both men's and women's teams that received team academic awards for having GPAs that are higher than a 3.0.
Before his position at McNeese State, Saxena was a member of the coaching staff at Westfield State University for four seasons. During that time, he coached multiple conference championship teams on both the men's and women's sides along with three regional finishers and an NCAA finisher.
Saxena was a track and field student-athlete at Springfield College, where he was part of a team that was ranked in the Top 25 in Division III. He also has multiple certifications from the USTFCCCA for strength and conditioning, jumps, sprint, hurdle and relay events, and combined events. He has also earned his USA Track and Field Level 1 license.
"I am very excited to be the new UC Santa Barbara Director of Track and Field/Cross Country," Saxena said. "This job is a dream opportunity since UC Santa Barbara is one of the top academic schools in the country with a rich tradition in multiple-event areas in track and field."
Saxena will begin in this role on Thursday, Feb. 8. During that time, the women's indoor track and field team will compete in their first meet at the UW Invitational hosted by the University of Washington.
More from Coach Saxena:
"I am happy to be able to move back to California to be close to friends and family. The timing of getting a new head coach in the middle of the year can be tough on student athletes that may already have their routines for the year, but it's my job as a coach to put the student athletes first. I want to make the transition as seamless as possible for them so they only have to focus on school and track. I look forward to collaborating with the coaching staff to work towards our team goals of finishing Top 25 in the country and Top Three in the conference."
"Each year I intend to work with the team to up the standard of our program's goals. I look forward to coordinating events with alumni to keep them involved with the program and collaborating with them on ideas to continue to take the program to the next level. I would like to thank the many mentors and coaches who taught me so much to be able to be in this position."
"At Westfield State University, Coach Stephen Marino who gave me my first college coaching job and Coach Sean O'Brien who convinced me to coach track instead of football. Coach Boo Schexnayder of LSU who answered all of my questions throughout my career. Coach Brendan Gilroy from McNeese State who challenged me to learn a new event to coach each year and trusted me with new responsibilities year to year. Coach Mike Smith at Army West Point who is one of the hardest workers I have ever met; he always challenged me to reach a new level. And I can't thank Coach Brooks Johnson and Coach Sue Humphrey enough for the weekly PACA calls through USATF which allow me to learn from the greatest athletes and coaches around the world. I've loved my job everywhere I have been, and I look forward to this next chapter and helping the student athletes accomplish their goals on and off the track."
